Christmas countdown 2018
by light-and-Shadows-Mist-and-ice
Summary: On the twelfth day of Christmas two authors gave to me Twelve mini scenes, Livvy and Elwin fluff, a Black Swan Christmas, a very happy ending, Oralie being sad, Keefe and Tam a stalling, two newly weds decorating, Sophie being sad, a Freeman family Christmas, some Endal family disasters, a huge snowball fight and a oneshot filled with Vackiznee RATED T FOR A COUPLE OF SWEARS
1. chapter 0

Songs and full description

Day 1. All I want for Christmas is you

Day 2. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Day 3. Baby it's cold outside

Day 4. White Christmas

Day 5. Blue Christmas

Day 6. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Day 7. Your a mean one Mr. Grinch

Day 8. Oh Christmas tree

Day 9. I'll be home for Christmas

Day 10. Little drummer Moonlark

Day 11. Holly Jolly Christmas

Day 12. The twelfth day of Christmas

 _On the twelfth day of Christmas two authors gave to me_ _Twelve mini scenes, Livvy and Elwin fluff, a Black Swan Christmas, a very happy ending, Oralie being sad, Keefe and Tam a stalling, two newly weds decorating, Sophie being sad, a Freeman family Christmas, some Endal family disasters, a snowball fight and a oneshot filled with Vackiznee_

Hi! It's Carin and it's the thirteenth you know what that means! Twelve days until Christmas day! This is the schedule kind of, it tells you what your in for. The first part was the songs for each of the days and the second part is what's going down in the form of a song that can be read to the tune of the twelve days of Christmas.

The first one shot will be up today, and then Alli's first one will be tomorrow.

Merry Christmas,


	2. chapter 1

Name: The miracle of WI-FI

Description: Sometimes your big Christmas miracle isn't getting home in time for Christmas Eve, or everyone you love showing up where you are through some sort of boat drawn by Santa's reindeer and the grinch's dog. It's just having enough WI-FI bars to call your fiance in the airport.

Pairing: Vackiznee

Author: Carin

Notes: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

publishing date: December 12 2018

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Every flight going anywhere near New York was delayed. Every other flight out of Ohio was leaving, and Dex wanted to kick something. He wasn't going to, security was already weirded out by the fact that he had three cell-phones on him (one was professional, one was personal, and the third was a flip phone he kept on when out of town in case of emergencies,) didn't need to give them anything else about him to worry about. Dex pulled out his (personal) phone and checked the New York weather. Yep, there was a Blizzard, a bad one too. Seemingly Brooklyn was getting the worst of it. He suddenly had a terrible vision of Biana sitting in her car stuck in traffic in the middle of a blizzard because of some crash, or worse than that, being in a crash herself. Even if she didn't get hurt… he had to get back to New York.

No. He calmed himself down. If she was hurt someone would call him. . He had to believe that and instead be concerned with the fact that it was Christmas Eve, and he was stuck in Ohio. Ugh. Blizzards. Freaking. Fracking. F*cking. Blizzards. Plus Ohio of all places. He couldn't even do something because all he knew about Ohio was that his parents had decided to move there for some reason. He also knew how to spell Ohio. He wasn't even sure he was pronouncing Ohio right. The more he said the name the less he was convinced this was even a real place and that he wasn't in some sort of dream state. No no. Ohio was a real place. He was just having a mental breakdown to prevent a mental break down. Perfect.

He grabbed his bag and leaned back in his chair. The more he thought about it.

This was a small airport.

Only four flights were delayed.

Every other flight had left.

There was 25 people a plane.

There was only 100 people in the airport.

He whipped out his phone and stabbed the headphones into the jack before placing them in his ears.

He pressed Biana's contact on text,

Can you FaceTime?stop. I don't think I'll be home for tomorrow morning. Stop.

Dex didn't know when the tradition of adding "stop" to their text messages like some kind of old time telegram had started, although he was pretty sure it was started by Sophie. He didn't remember but that did sound like her. Maybe it just sounded like her because it was in every text she sent. His phone buzzed.

Of course. Stop. Have you checked train schedules. Stop.

He hadn't, but he clicked the call button

She picked up immediately,

"Hi," he said through the phone. Biana laughed,

"You don't have to say hi when I already knew you were calling me,"

"Yeah yeah." he shook his head, "you in Manhattan yet," Biana sighed,

"No I got snowed into the house, couldn't even see out the door when I tried to leave." he secretly let out a small sigh of relief, there was no way Biana would have made it all the way to Sophie and Fitz's apartment, even if she did make the trip to Manhattan almost daily.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked her.

"Finishing some designs that need to be in by New Year," she responded, Dex smiled at the concept of Biana at her work desk miles away, working on some gorgeous dress that looked to him like something out of fashion week. "How bout you?"

"I'm stuck in an Ohio airport actually," they both laughed. He paused for a minute, "we have gifts for everyone right?" he asked, there was silence,

"Think so, all though see if you can find another baby's first Christmas ornament for Everly and Calla, it's icy one could break." Dex sighed, Biana had been like this on Linh and Wylie's older child's first Christmas as well. Now she was doing the same thing with not only Linh and Wylie's second child, but Sophie and Fitz's first child as well. Part of him feared for the day of their own child's first Christmas. Although he did have to admit, her over preparation was kinda cute.

"You're adorable," he told her. He stood up, deciding to just give into the madness, "insane, but adorable,"

"Thanks I try,"

Dex stood at the cashier's desk at the store where they had finally found a good baby's first Christmas ornament with no reference to Ohio or airports (a difficult task in the airport in Ohio).

"Do you know if any trains are leaving soon?" He asked.

The cashier shrugged,

"Should be one leaving soon,"

He walked back outside of the store now with an extra package under his arm.

"The train station is right next to the airport," he explained to Biana. "Should be home by," he checked a clock on the wall, damn it was already 5am. "Eight-ish," he heard a single clapping sound on the other side of the phone.

"Maybe we'll make it in time for brunch tomorrow!" she exclaimed, he hoped so,

"I should let you get some sleep," he told her,

"Okay. Try to sleep on the train," she responded,

"I will, love you,"

"Love you too," she responded.

Dex looked out the window of the train as he finally left Ohio behind. Maybe he would make it home for Christmas after all.


	3. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Name: Let it, Snow, Let it, Snow, Let it Snow

Description: What's the best course of action when your a final year law student and have exams the next morning. SNOWBALL FIGHT!

Pairing: Slight Kenric x Oralie

Author: Allison

"Oh the weather outside is frightful," sang Terik from behind his snow fort. He chucked a snowball directly at Oralie before ducking back down to make another.

"But the fire is so delightful," Kenric picked up the melody whilst also throwing the snow. His pants were already soaked through. Maybe that was what she would get him for Christmas. Better pants.

"And since there's no place to go," sang Terik. He was making a pile of snowball's almost as high as the fort's walls. He was too good at building snow things for someone who grew up in Florida.

"Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!," yelled Oralie before she dumped an armload of snow on to Kenric's head from behind. He was covered from head to toe in the stuff and it seemed to have gone down his jacket. He frowned, then looked at Oralie pointely.

"That, was not very nice."

"Neither was nailing me in the nose with a snowball but that didn't stop you. Did it?"

"Shouldn't we be inside?" asked Oralie, "Studying for the exam we have tomorrow?"

"If we went inside then we would just end up throwing wads of paper at each other and you know it." She did know it. They were full of so much nervous energy. They needed to get it out somewhere. She just wished that they could be studying instead. When was the first time anyone filed for divorce. She sure as hell didn't know.

The front lawn of the student residence was a war-zone. Blocks of ice had been carved out and made into forts, each with a few well made snowmen as guards. The ground in between was bumpy with past projectiles, from their fight and others before it. This was the fourth snowball fight the trio had had and the scores were almost all tied up. Well not really Kenric and Terik were tied at two-two and Oralie, who couldn't aim for the life of her, was stuck at zero.

THWACK!

Terik's aim, despite him being from Florida, where they didn't have snow, he was too good at this.

The snowball hit Oralie squarely on the side of her jaw. Snow fell down her coat and onto the thick sweater she was wearing underneath. Oralie ducked behind the snowfort's walls before anyone could hit her again. She had to get her head in the game. So far she was losing, quite badly it should be noted. There was no way that she was going to let Terik win again. His ego was too big as is.

Oralie gathered the snow into her hands and peered over the icy walls towards the battle. Terik and Kenric were rapidly firing snowballs at each other. They both seem to have gotten in a few good hits. Kenric had a speckling of snow on his hat and Terik's face was more red than usual. Snowball in hand, Oralie layed down so she was on her belly and wormed her way towards Kenric's fort.

Did she have a bias over who she wanted to win. Yes of course, who didn't want their boyfriend to win against their best friend. Terik and Kenric have been at a tie and it was time for that to end.

"Psst," she whispered.

"What?" asked Kenric. He looked adorably rumpled. His hair was plastered to his face and his cheeks had taken a rosy hue. The green coat he had chosen to wear was covered in snowball sized water-marks.

"Can't I just say hi to my boyfriend?" she asked louder so that Terik could hear her. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper. "I want to help you win."

"Oralie," Kenric sighed. "You know that if we won like that he would never let it slide."

"Obviously I wouldn't be doing the throwing. I would make the snowball's for you and you would do the throwing."

"Good because you suck at throwing."

"I do not!" she protested.

"Babe, there's a reason that your a law student and not a professional baseball player."

"Well, we all can't be the star football player in high school." To prove her point she made a snowball and took aim at the back of Terik's head. She wound her arm up and let the snowball fly. It sailed clean over Terik's head and landed a few feet in front of him.

"Was that supposed to get my attention?" called Terik. His snowball piled had doubled from the time she had last seen it. _How does he do it so fast?_ She thought. He was from Florida this made no sense.

Oralie made another snowball and took aim again, she was determined. This time it did hit someone. Just not Terik.

"What the.." asked a sickenly familiar voice. Oralie had just enough time to mutter some very creative curse words before their History of Law Professor came into view. Professor Bronte's face was bright red and he had water dripping down his face. Even his disturbingly pointy ears that everyone called elf ears around the holidays were soaking.

"Professor Bronte," greeted Terik. "How lovely that you could join us, I see that Oralie has.." he paused and contemplated for a second. "How should I put this nicely… Nailed you in the face with a snowball."

"Indeed she has." His face was unreadable.

"Professor I'm so sorry, I wasn't trying to hit your face. Or I wasn't trying to hit you in general. Not even in you general vicinity…" She was blabbering so much that she didn't notice the professor bend down and grab one of Terik's many snowball's. She didn't notice until she felt the snowball hit her square in the nose.

"Now we're even." He turned and called over his shoulder. "I suggest that you go inside and study Oralie, seeing as you don't have much of a career in sports." The Professor walked away before any of the three students could craft any sort of reply. Terik started laughing. Then Kenric joined in. Soon all three of them were laughing. The competition long forgotten.

Oralie, Kenric and Terik walked back inside. They decided to take their teacher's advice and study for the exam they had the next morning. They could finish this after. And when they did, Terik would not be the winner.


	4. chapter 3

Name: I really can't stay, (it's gonna be cold outside)

Description: It's supposed to be cold, windy and snowy. Somehow they have to get two kids out of the house before they get snowed in.

Pairing:Wylinh

Author: Carin

Release date: to be decided

Notes: okay so the songs not perfect

"Mommy!" shrieked Rhys at what must of been the top of his lungs. Linh flinched as her son(who was supposed to be taking a bath) rushed into the room screaming for her. She grabbed on to him quickly and picked him up, ignoring the comb that fell to the floor. Wylie came into the room a minute after,

"What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked her son holding him a bit tighter.

"I don't wanna take a bath, there's an ocapus in there!" he exclaimed, Linh looked over at her husband,

"Sorry ," he mouthed. Linh shook her head with a smile and looked back at her son,

"The bathtub was octopus free last time I checked, but I'll come with you to check again," she assured him. The boy nodded as they left the

"I'll get Everly ready!" Wylie yelled after her.

It turned out Rhys was kind of right. There was no Octopus of course, but there was a very large spider tucked against the shower curtain.

"See mama!" Rhys exclaimed pointing at it

"You were right bud, but that's a spider not an octopus," she smiled at him, "Wylie" she yelled, "There's a spider!"

"Kinda busy Linh," he yelled back, she looked down at her son,

"Know what, no bath tonight, why don't you go get dressed," Rhys ran off quickly in response.

"Why," yelled Wylie from the nursery, "did we buy our infant who enjoys throwing things, black shoes?"

Linh groaned,

"I'll get the shoes you get the spider?" she suggested,

"Yep, on it," he responded. Linh headed towards the baby's room and picked up her daughter from the changing table where Wylie was standing.

"Where's the spider?" He asked,

"In the tub, near the curtain," she instructed. Wylie walked off,

"Mommy!" yelled Rhys as soon as Linh had put Everly in her crib and gotten on the ground to look for the shoes. Linh sighed and grabbed her daughter before heading for her son's room.

"I can't find my socks!" he shrieked. Great another footwear related crisis. She opened up his drawer and found it was filled to the brim with socks.

"There's a million pairs of socks in here," she told Rhys,

"I can't see up there!" he complained. Linh looked down at her son as she shifted her daughter higher on her hip. It was true, the height gene he was sure to get from both her and Wylie had not yet kicked in for the four-year-old, and the dresser was fairly tall. She tossed a pair down to him. "Thank you!" Linh walked down the hall of the house back to her daughter's room. She put her daughter in her crib and got down on her hands and knees.

"Now where did you throw your shoes?" Linh asked as she peered under the crib. Nothing.

She turned around. Everly would have been laying on the changing table, so when she threw the shoes, they would have landed…

Linh looked across the room to where large storage chest sat. She walked across the room and looked behind the chest, where sure enough the shoes were placed. Linh pulled both out and smiled at her achievement.

She slipped the shoes onto Everly's feet and smiled at her daughter.

Linh walked out of Everly's room at the same time that Wylie walked out of the bathroom,

"The spider has been dealt with," he told her,

"The shoes have been found," she responded. They both started to walk towards the living room when they heard a loud bang behind them. They both turned around quickly and found the bathroom door laying on the ground with no evidence as to how it got there.

"The hell?" Linh questioned, "Is that even possible, is that physically possible?" Wylie shook his head,

"The bolts are still in the frame, that's not physically possible," Wylie walked over to the door picked it up and placed it in the frame without replacing it on the screws. "Fixed it," he declared.

"Okay," Linh responded. They looked at each other for a moment, "we're ready to go provided Rhys is read–"

"Mommy!"

"Yeah we're not ready to go," Linh passed Everly to her husband and walked down the hall to her son's room,

"What's wrong sweetheart?" she questioned,

"My shoes don't fit!" he exclaimed. Linh sighed, their feet were cursed,

"You can wear your winter boots, you won't be wearing them at aunt Sophie and uncle Fitz's anyways," Rhys made a pouty face. Linh felt like her heart was going to break in two. "I'm sorry sweetheart, we'll get you new ones for the New Year's party okay," Rhys nodded.

"Okay Mommy," Linh picked him up,

"But hey, it's Christmas tomorrow," Rhys nodded happily.

"And I get to meet baby Calla!" he exclaimed. Linh had forgotten that her son still hadn't met Sophie and Fitz's newest addition. The babies had met during a double lunch date with the Vacker family, but Rhys had been at preschool, and unfortunately the Endal family hadn't seen much of the Vackers in the weeks since Calla's birth. She nodded at her son.

"Well if our third footwear crisis has been dealt with, are you ready to go?" Rhys nodded.

"Linh!" Rhys looked at her,

Linh walked down the hallway to find Wylie and Everly covered in vomit and Everly sobbing.

"What happened?" Linh exclaimed, putting Rhys on the ground.

"Mama!" Everly sobbed reaching out for Linh.

Linh felt like she also wanted to sob. She grabbed onto her daughter and tired to avoid as much vomit as possible. She gestured vaguely in Wylie's direction and made a grumbling sound that was supposed to mean something like "no vomit on your clothes,". Wylie nodded still looking a bit confused as to why he was there and covered in vomit.

Finally in the car the Endal family finally all let out a sigh. They were halfway out the driveway when disaster struck again.

"Yeah Linh you're covered in vomit," Wylie pointed out driving back towards the house. Linh growled quietly and stepped out of the car directly onto a patch of ice. She stood up slammed the door and walked in front of the car. Then Linh did something she had never done.

She clenched her fists and glued them to her sides she planted both feet firmly on the ground, she looked up and she started screaming.

Linh Song was not one for dramatics or pessimism but today was testing her and she didn't care if this left her with some sort of bad karma.

She kept screaming until she ran out of breath and then she un curled her fists she walked inside and she changed her clothes. She checked her phone. Maybe they would beat the blizzard.


	5. chapter 4

**Name:Blue Christmas** **Description: Elves don't celebrate Christmas, and neither does Sophie Foster, but maybe she deserves a minute to mourn the Christmas she's losing** **Pairing: none** **Notes:this one's sad, and very short, and un Edited because I have reached the point of tired where I will add more grammar mistakes, it is also uploaded on the wrong day, Alli will upload tomorrow and the day after that.**

December twenty fifth was a normal wednesday. Or at least it should have been. She should have woken up. Put on her school uniform. Eaten breakfast. Gone to school. Came home. Done homework. And then gone to sleep.

Instead she woke up really early with a feeling of excitement in her stomach. Then she remembered and she cried. She didn't want to be crying, it was Christmas day. Christmas morning it was a happy time. She looked at the time it was three AM. She had time. She grabbed her IPod and put on Christmas music. She walked down the stairs and to the living room. Her plan was just to sit in the living room and pretend she was there. Her plan was not to fall asleep. Somehow she did.

"And a happy new year!" Sophie looked around her surroundings felt like a merging of two places. She tried to process where she was. She had always been somewhat of a lucid dreamer but she always preferred to let the dream play out. Her photographic memory allowed her to notice the details that were wrong but she usually just sort of laid back and let her brain take over. Right now she was dreaming. Not the horrible nightmares that usually plagued her sleep. Just a dream. She was in some sort of mixture of her human home and an elven house. It was like her human house but more fancy. In fact this whole dream seemed to be a mix of elven and human life.

She could hear her human family talking in the kitchen, but she could also feel the cape on her shoulders. There was a Christmas tree in the corner, but she could also smell Mallowmelt.

"Sophie!" she heard from the other room. She shook out of her trance and tried to head towards what should have been the kitchen instead she was in a Christmas tree patch. She couldn't see her human family, but they were there.

"Sophie, come on!" Amy yelled. Sophie smiled,

"I'm coming," She ran in her younger sister's direction and saw glimpses of her sister's elven form through the trees. She looked behind her and suddenly saw a version of her human parents behind her. There was something different about them, just like the house and this tree farm. There was just something about it all.

She shook off the feeling and kept running after Amy. As she kept running the screams became more desperate

"Sophie!" She kept running suddenly no longer feeling as calm as she did before. Then suddenly there was sobbing and she found a small cabin in the woods. She opened the door and all of a sudden she was at Havenfield. She recognized the sobbing as Edaline's. She walked towards where she could hear her crying. Suddenly the scenery changed again and she was in the wanderling woods.

"Good tidings we bring to you and your kind"

"We are gathered here today," so much green and so many people talking. Elaine and Grady were both holding a wanderling seed. They both dropped them and the trees immediately started growing. One was her's the other was Jolie's. She started shaking, worried that it wasn't a dream. The trees kept growing and growing until she was surrounded by leaves and flowers. She couldn't breathe.

Sophie shook awake,

 _"You'll be doing all right with your Christmas of White"_ she wasn't dreaming anymore, she was at Havenfield. She was safe and, alive. She also wasn't with her human family and it was still Christmas,

 _"And I'll have a blue, blue, blue Christmas,"_


	6. Freeman Family Christmas

Connor, Kate, and Natalie Freeman were standing in the middle of their living room, eight days before Christmas. They were admiring the beautiful tree that they had put up. It stood about six inches above your average Carin. The tree was decorated in reds and golds, with a smidge of green thrown in. There were presents under the tree and a fire in the fireplace. They should feel content, happy even.

So why didn't they?

They had a wonderful dog and a wonderful family. They had just moved into their dream home, so why didn't it feel complete. Natalie felt like there was something missing. Once when she was eating she turned to her right to pass the mashed potatoes. That wouldn't be strange, except for the fact that there was a wall there.

Then there were the anomalies of her karaoke machine. She had never owned a karaoke machine in her life, but one day there was a karaoke machine in her room. It was covered in dust and still had a Taylor Swift album in the slot. It worked, Natalie had sung all afternoon that day. Her voice was gone the next morning but she didn't care. The karaoke machine was also covered in cat hair. It had the initials A.R.F stamped into the side along with a note to someone named 'Sophie' to stay out of it.

She didn't know how the machine got there. That was the first mystery of the house.

It was six days before Christmas when Natalie Freeman found the photo. Torn in the corners and fading along the sides. It was a family that Natalie knew well. She recognized the tree in the background. The couches that lined the room. Even the paintings on the walls were the same. The only thing that she didn't recognize was the blonde girl with the brown eyes. Natalie looked closer at the family in the picture, there were her parents, both smiling a wearing the ugliest Christmas sweaters ever, the blonde girl, and then there was her. She looked to be about nine, so this picture was taken about a year ago. Maybe two.

"This is seriously weird," Natalie muttered. She put the picture in her desk drawer to be studied later.

It was five days before Christmas when Natalie's grandparents came to visit. They were always nice, and since they lived so far away the Freeman's didn't get to see them. There was her grandmother, her father's mother she should add. She had never met her mother's parents. Her grandfather was the more eccentric of the two. He was the one who taught Natalie to play the piano one summer when she was seven. She had since forgotten how to play the songs that he taught, she had forgotten a lot about her childhood.

There were times when Natalie thought that her grandparents were just plain crazy. They were setting the table for too many. They added one extra.

"Why are you setting an extra place?" asked Amy.

"For your sister, dear," her grandmother had replied. Then she seemed to think better of herself and took the place back to the kitchen.

It was four days until Christmas when the cat turned up. A gray fluffy cat, on their doorstep. No note or anything. No vets were open to have him chipped so the Freeman's had a cat now. He seemed especially fond of Kate Freeman and he really hated Amy. Went as far as to hiss in her direction when she passed by. The cat, named Marty by her grandparents insistence, even liked her dog.

Natalie was looking at the photo in her bedroom when the Marty showed up. He jumped up onto her bed and took a seat next to Natalie.

"Finally decided to join me?" She asked the cat. Marty yawned. Then he perked up when he saw the picture. He jumped onto her lap and started nuzzling the photo. More specifically the blonde girl that Natalie couldn't figure out.

"Does your owner look like that?" Asked Natalie again. At that moment she thought she was going crazy, she was talking to a cat. Christmas break must be getting to her.

It was three days until Christmas when Natalie Freeman couldn't take it anymore.

"Who is this?" She asked her parents. She thrust the photo of them in their faces.

"I didn't know you knew how to use photoshop." Her dad replied. He thought this was a joke, some elaborate prank she had pulled. "I'll admit I've never seen that photo of us before. Where did you get it?"

"I don't know, it turned up one day in my bedroom," she defended. Marty came up from behind her and walked in between her legs.

"I'm sure it did sweetheart but don't you think that you're a little old to be playing practical jokes?"

"Hey, at least Marty warming up to you." Said her mom. This was useless. Natalie stormed upstairs and slammed the door, Marty on her heels.

It was two days before Christmas when her grandparents had to leave. They had a problem with the plant sitter and had to be back in their house to take care of them. Natalie had to admit it was better with just the three of them, less crowded.

It was two days before Christmas when they heard a knock at the door. She rushed down the stairs. Why? She didn't know. She liked answering the door. She unlocked and opened the door to reveal a couple standing on their porch.

"I'm very sorry to bother you so close to Christmas but it seems that my husband and I are lost." The man shot the woman a look that could kill. He was tall with brown hair that was neatly combed back. He wore a jersey of some kind. The woman had blonde hair and spoke like she was wise. They were most likely tourists, they got lost on their way to the beach or the zoo.

"Are your parents home?" Asked the man in an accent that she couldn't quite place.

"Yes," she replied. Her dad came into view a second later. He took over from there. Natalie ran up to her bedroom, Marty was lounging on her bed. They had become quite close over the days they had spent together. She heard the door close and her dad talking to her mom. They must have been just tourists, Natalie thought to herself. Still, she had a bad feeling about them.

It was the day before Christmas when Amy Foster remembered.


	7. Christmas Miracle (Kenric x Oralie)

Name: Christmas Miracle

Description: Even in death Kenric had some surprises up his sleeve.

Pairing: Kenric x Oralie

Author: Allison

Oralie stared at the picture on her desk. She was supposed to be working, but then again the elves were never supposed to die. Her desk was covered in different gifts from different people. Being a councilor had its perks. But there was only one present that she cared about, given to her a long time ago by someone who just couldn't stay. Kenric was smiling in the photo and she was smiling beside him. Terik was there too but Oralie had taped a picture of a mercat over his face after a snarky comment.

Kenric had been the first to discover the human holiday Christmas. The humans were celebrating some guys birth but they really didn't care. They had just finished the r foxfire levels and Kenric had been taken on to train with one of the councilors. Oralie didn't really remember. It was probably Bronte. They had been celebrating the holiday ever since. It just so happened to line up with the winter solstice, hence the large stack of presents on her desk.

Damn, she missed him. She missed his smile and his laugh. The way his eyes lit up any time you mentioned Bramble. He wasn't like the Vackers but when he talked about bramble he was basically part of the family. She even missed the way he shoveled food into his mouth and his and Terik's petty fights.

They looked so happy in the picture like they didn't have a care in the world. Her hair was much shinier in the picture. Ah, the good old days when she didn't have the weight of an entire species on her shoulders when she could shower every day.

"Couldn't you just stay alive," she told the picture. "Why couldn't you be more selfish." That wasn't true, she loved the selflessness of Kenric. It just got really annoying when he died because of it. She picked up the photo and threw it across the room.

"Why couldn't it have been me!" she yelled through the tears quickly making their way down her face. The picture hit her fireplace and she heard the glass of the frame breaking. She was about to walk away and towards the bedroom in her castle when she heard his voice.

Now, this wasn't like those times when people will claim they heard loved one's voices from beyond the grave. No, she could actually hear his voice.

"Oralie, I know that you probably won't find his recording for a while." He paused. "Well, I guess that I should tell you what's going on... Umm, we're about to heal Fintan. I say we're, Sophie's going to heal Fintan today." He must have recorded this before everything happened. "I know that you might never find this, hell, maybe you died. But anyways I was thinking that Fintan's going to pull something. So I decided to set up some countermeasures in place. Should this whole thing go down the drain I'll have a place to lie low for a while. It's rented under the name Billy Floyd in New York. 131 south Pennington avenue, apartment 5B. I really hope that you find this Oralie."

Oralie couldn't believe what she just heard. Kenric had a plan, a plan in case things went south at the healing. Which they did. She sometimes thought that as well as being able to read minds, he could also see the future. Once, when they were kids, he predicted the exact score of the test he had. It was a terrible grade, just for reference sake. He could be alive. It was one in the morning, she had to find him. But first, she needed a partner.

"What the actual," this was followed by some rather uncomplimentary words, words that Oralie chose to tune out.

"Shut up Terik," she said. Then she threw the picture across the room again. She really didn't know how else to activate the recording. Hopefully she would never have to. As the recording played Terik's eyes slowly got wider and his jaw dropped almost to the floor.

"I KNEW IT!" He screamed. Then added in a quieter voice. "Kenric is alive, man you know how many people owe me lusters now." Oralie had been there when Terik had been going through the "too drunk to function" portion of grief. He had bet jokingly almost all of his money that Kenric was actually alive. She felt sorry for those poor souls who'd have to deal with him tomorrow.

"We're going right?" he asked her. She nodded her head.

"Hell yeah we are!" she exclaimed. "You should put on a shirt though, I doubt Kenric wants your abs to be the first thing he sees."

"Kenric loved my abs," Terik defended. He did however, put on a shirt. "You should clean yourself up too, you look like the devil ate you, then spat you back up."

"Why the devil," she asked. He shrugged and went to herd her towards the door.

"You shower and I'll meet you at your place with some food."

An hour later they were at the door of an apartment building that looked like the devil ate it then spat it back up. Sufficiently nourished, dressed and showered they were waiting. And they just now realized that they didn't know anything about how human doors worked.

"I think you press it?" suggested Oralie. She pushed her finger into the hard wood of the door. "Now, we wait." And they waited. For five minutes. Nothing.

"Is this the right address," asked Terik.

"I think so." She pressed the door leaned against the wall directly next to the door. A high pitched ringing sounded from behind the door. Muffled footsteps followed a minute later. The door swung open and Oralie's breath hitched in her chest.

Her was here. Alive, well and more handsome then she remembered. He was wearing an old ragged shirt and loose pants but, to her it was like his old jewel encrusted capes.

"Whaaaaa?" he asked sleepily, while rubbing his eyes. Then he took in the people around him and his eyes widened.

Oralie had opted out of her usual formal dresses for a tunic and pants that could blend in better with the human crowds. Terik had chosen something similar. There were no circlets, no jewels and certainly no other councillors.

"I sure took you long enough," he said. Then walked forward, took Oralie's face in his hands and kissed her. And she kissed him back. Kissed him like she should have when they could. Before the council and the drama and the death.

"I'm here too ya know," Terik said. Oralie reached out a hand and pushed his face away. He retaliated by picking the both of them up in a hug.

"Gang's back!" he shouted. "It's a Christmas miracle!"

Christmas miracle indeed.


	8. How Tam and Keefe stole Christmas

Name: How Tam and Keefe stole Christmas

Description: Christmas Eve a magical time. Which is why everyone else will be there, so did they really have to go.

Pairing:Teefe

Author:Carin

Notes: Joyeux Noël, ALSO by the way this one shot, I really can't stay, the miracle of Wi-Fi and last two are connected, but the Livvy and Elwin one is a different Christmas (probably Christmas 2017) but the same universe

 **TIME: 5:00 PM** **TIME LEFT TO STALL: 2 HOURS**

"Oh no, I accidentally dropped my tie in the garbage," Keefe exclaimed as he dropped his tie in the trash bin and slammed it closed, " How unfortunate, I guess I'll have to find my other one," he could practically hear the look Tam was giving him but he didn't really care. As much as he loved his friends being stuck in a penthouse with all of them was not ideal. Sophie and Fitz were still at the point in parenting where Calla could make a face and they would both start sobbing, Linh and Wylie were very convinced that Rhys was a genius and that Everly's ability to say "Mama" and "Dada" made her ahead of the curb. Biana and Dex were fine, but then they got engaged. They did this thing where they both talked at a million miles a minute but it wasn't like they were doing that cute couple thing where they said the same thing because they were talking about seperate parts of the wedding. All together in an overnight event, and being together all of next morning would be hell.

He didn't even want to think about it, which is why he had a plan.

Right now he was in phase one.

He had written it in his old pranking journal which he had to find just for this.

Technically that had been phase one of the stalling. Because their attic was a mess.

The real phase one was just about losing stuff. Ties, keys, shoes, presents, anything that would keep them from leaving.

Phase two was in the unlikely event he ran out of things to lose. He was going to start hiding Tam's stuff.

Phase three was just to build a big wall out of snow that prevented their car from leaving.

He wasn't going to do that unless necessary because his snow fort building techniques were easy to spot. Some had called him the Mozart of the snow fort world.

Mostly just him but it didn't matter. Right now he had to lose another tie. Really he had to lose multiple ties because Fitz wouldn't stop buying them ties.

After losing all fifty five of their ties Keefe still had a lot of things to lose.

First of all car keys. The best method of losing keys was to throw them. The issue with that was that it made a lot of sound. The second best method was to drop them behind the couch because then you had to move the couch to get them again. He dropped them there. Couldn't leave the house without keys.

"I just don't know where they could have gone unless you hid them Keefe," Tam exclaimed,

"These are very bold accusations," Keefe responded trying to act offended. Tam narrowed his eyes at his husband,

"You literally did the exact thing I'm accusing you of a week ago,"

"I have changed in that week," Keefe paused a moment, "plus you caught me so it would be very stupid to attempt again,"

"I swear on my living sister's future grave if I find the keys I'm making you take your bicycle to Manhattan."

"Don't you mean my BI-cycle?" Keefe did finger guns.

Tam grabbed the couch and started pulling it out of its usual place as Keefe started scanning the room for anything that would allow him to stall. He noticed a glass of water and poured it over his own head without thinking about that fact that it would leave him soaking wet. Tam turned around now holding the keys.

"Oh no! Did I accidentally dump a glass of water all over myself," Keefe mono toned, "I swear it was an accident,"

"Dammit Keefe," they both stared at each other for a moment, "I'm going to call Linh and have her arrest you,"

"On what ground?"

"Being a risk to the general Tam," he shook his head, "and also for attempted Grand theft auto because you stole my keys,"

"And your heart?" Keefe flirted,

"Don't be cute that's not fair," Keefe looked at the floor realising that he had just dumped a glass of water on himself to get out of their nieces first Christmas. Keefe took off his jacket and used it to dry his hair,

"I don't think my actual clothes got wet so we can leave now," they both silently walked to the door,

"You know," started Tam, "I left a lamp on,"

"Which one?" asked Keefe,

"Not sure, I should probably go check all of them," Keefe smiled,

"That's probably for the best,"

Well Tam was searching for a lamp he had seemingly left on in Narnia, Keefe's phone started ringing,

"Please tell me you're almost here," Sophie sobbed on the other side of the phone, "Biana is stuck in Brooklyn, Dex is stuck in Ohio, Linh and Wylie's car broke down while they were on the road. If you and Tam don't come no one is here and I just," the phone line went silent so long Keefe wondered if she'd hung up, "just please get here soon," then the phone clicked. Tam walked into the room,

"We have to go pick Linh and Wylie up, their car broke down," Tam sighed,

"Yeah Sophie is having a mental break down because no one is there," Keefe responded

"We have to go save freaking Christmas don't we," Tam asked, Keefe nodded,

"We have to go save Christmas,"


	9. Oh Christmas Tree

Name: Oh Christmas Tree

Description: Newly married Kesler and Juline Diznee enjoy a quiet night in the lost cities.

Pairing: Kesler x Juline

Author: Allison

"There has to be an easier way to do this," called Kesler from his position on the ladder. Juline laughed and walked backward as to better vantage point.

Kesler was not usually on their new roof at midnight. Even if he was then Juline hardly noticed. He was putting up the many strings of lights that she had bought the day before.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?" he asked from the roof. But he had a lot of nails in his mouth so it sounded a lot more like he was trying to speak troll.

"Because you love me?" Juline responded. She smiled up at him. He rolled his eyes and continued to nail the lights to the roof.

"You could help me, Ju." Said Kesler.

"Yeah but then who's going to bake the cookies?" She asked.

"That's like a really good point." The timer in her apron pocket beeped and she looked down. She had at least five batches of cookies going right now. Ah Yes, the gingerbread ones for the houses were done now.

The inside of Rimshire was even more festive than the outside. Juline had spent weeks planning and buying everything she needed to make this the best first Christmas ever. Everything went together, there was nothing out of place.

Except for that damn yeti. Curse them for being too polite to throw it away. Curse Kesler's brother for dropping by at least once a week. Curse herself for mentioning that one time that she liked Yetis. Nice going Juline, now you have a yeti statue in your entrance way.

The kitchen smelled like what she imagined heaven would smell like. The sweet aroma of the cookies, combined with the smell of pine from the open window and the forest beyond. She pulled the tray of cookies out from the oven, checking the other ones while she was there.

Kesler was done outside by the time the cookies were cooled. They would not be assembling the houses today, that was tomorrow. Today, well she intended to teach him a lot about how the humans celebrate Christmas.

"That makes no actual sense!" Yelled Kesler at the screen. "You can't make the sleigh fly on pure magic and Christmas beliefs! I'm calling-"

"Dear," said Juline sweetly. "Tone down the criticism, I can't decorate the tree if you're yelling." He shut up. Then proceeded to take his anger out on her, in the form of tickling.

"That's not fair," Juline laughed as Kesler picked her up easily and put her down on the couch.

"Well you knowing this much about Christmas isn't fair and yet here we are."

"The tree's not done," protested Juline.

"The tree can wait," whispered Kesler. "I want to have some quality time with my _wife_." It sent shivers up Juline's spine.

"I'm never going to get tired of being called your wife." She said.

"Good because you're stuck with me now." He kissed her cheek and turned back to the movie, which was rolling the credits.

"Okay," said Juline, "that checks ELF off the list. Next, we move into the world of pre-1990s movies, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer."

"Why does he have a red nose!" Yelled Kesler. Juline smacked her palm against her forehead. This was going to be a long night.

They had gotten married six months earlier. And they still got looks from people in the town. The gawks at her husband. The whispers of "bad match", the bets as to how long they were going to last. People still called her Juline Ruewen.

That didn't matter to them, they were happy and Juline was happy to tell those stuffy nobles where they could stick their preconceived notions.

Their first Christmas as a married couple wasn't supposed to be spent dwelling on the thoughts of others. It was supposed to be spent like humans, in a really fancy house. They baked cookies and put up the Christmas lights, they decorated the tree and even hung stockings by their fireplace. Juline didn't tell Kesler about the part of the myth of Santa where he was fake. She planned on surprising him with all the presents in the closet upstairs.

Juline woke up at dawn. The sky was full of brilliant pinks and purples, the last stars hanging on to the night up high. She would never get used to the view from Rimshire. The mountains and the valley, and the sea not too far. Kesler snored beside her, she rolled her eyes. Man, she loved him. Even in the morning when his hair was literally everywhere. It was so cute that she almost forgot about the nausea that woke her up.

"This is going suck isn't it," she said to no one in particular. Kesler mumbled something about mammoths then fell silent again. Juline kissed his cheek and shook his shoulder.

"Hey, Kes, get up sweetie." Kesler turned away and buried himself more into the pillows. Fine be that way, she thought, I'll just have to take more drastic measures.

She got up from the bed and walked to the corner of the room. From there she ran at the bed and dived onto Kesler. He screamed and that made Juline laugh.

"What the-" he said. Juline was laughing too hard to form a proper reply. "That was not funny, I was having a really good dream."

"You brought this on yourself," she said when she had regained her composure. She tried to smooth out his hair. It stayed down for all of five seconds before popping back up again.

"You look really cute in the mornings." She commented absentmindedly.

"Thank you?" he asked.

"Are we going to go down for breakfast soon?" Asked Juline.

"Later," he said, then fell back into the mattress. "Sleep now."

"No!" Juline protested.

"It's dawn Juline, it's not fair. Sleep now, food later."

"Nope." She flopped back onto him again. He grabbed her around the waist and put her back onto her side of the bed.

"It's so peaceful," commented Kesler. "We should never have kids, it's so peaceful and calm."

"Yeah about that.."


	10. Happy holidays

Name: Happy Holidays

Description: Christmas. Will. Happen.

Pairing: Sophitz

"Wrapping gifts with birthday paper," Sophie sung, " falalalala lalalala. Because we ran out of festive stuff, falalalala lalalala," Sophie looked over at her daughter and husband sitting on the chair across from her and smiled,

"You know we may be the biggest idiots on the planet," Sophie stated,

"Why?" Fitz asked,

"Because we never thought to get wrapping paper for Christmas, despite the fact that we've made at least one diaper run this week," Fitz shrugged,

"In our defense we literally just celebrated Chanukkah with my family and your sister, and we have to make sure that our child doesn't you know, die or become traumatized for life or anything,"

"Yeah," they both stared at the Birthday wrapping paper sitting on the table, "how do we get stuck with the Christmas party every year,"

"I have no idea," They both sighed.

"You think our friends will call us crazy when we make them use hand sanitizer before coming in to our home?" Sophie asked swapping to the couch across from her and grabbing Calla into her arms.

"I mean Wylie and Linh did the same thing with Rhys so they won't," Fitz stated

"Biana and Dex never judge us because they're nice to us," Sophie added, they both sighed again

"We are never going to hear the end of it from Keefe and Tam," they stated in unison. Linh and Wylie still hadn't finished being teased for their overprotectiveness over Rhys before he had been vaccinated. Sophie looked down at Calla. They're daughter was exactly three weeks old on Christmas day, which of course meant she had been born on the first day of Hanukkah.

At least the first day of Chanukkah in 2018, then they hadn't slept for any of the days of Hanukkah, she hoped it didn't become a tradition. Especially since the Foster-Vacker family Chanukah extravaganza was already hard enough. To find at least one day where, Biana, Amy, her and Fitz, and Alden and Della could get together, it was hectic, especially since Amy lived in California. Now her sister had flown back home and they had gotten Calla to a sleep pattern where they at least got a bit of sleep before she woke them up. Sophie looked down at Calla and thought about the amount of people about to be in their apartment,

"I am not looking forward to this," she cooed.

"Where are you guys?" Linh sighed as she sat on top of the family's minivan trying to get reception while she talked to Keefe who kept asking about their location, despite her repetition of the fact that she did not know.

"Seriously Keefe just get Tam to track me, we have each other microchipped for a reason," she exclaimed,

"No Linh. I refuse to do that because I don't think it's healthy to have a microchip of your sibling," Linh rolled her eyes,

"You keep saying that, Wylie keeps saying that, and I'm going to say what I always say, just because one of you are a psychologist and the other is a doctor doesn't mean you know what's healthy," there was a pause on the other side of the phone,

"Why am I the logical one in this conversation?" he asked,

"Because I'm sitting on top of a minivan in the middle of a snow storm,"

"Okay Linh, try to describe your surroundings to me," Linh glanced around,

"There's a bunch of trees," she responded,

"Well we live in New York, so that's pretty helpful actually, I have to assume you're either in Brooklyn or Central Park,"

"I hope it's Brooklyn,"

"It would be easier to find you in Brooklyn," he agreed,

"Plus less likely to get mugged,"

"So do we know if Marella's coming?" Sophie yelled across the apartment,

"She's definitely not, she was going to try to come but she just texted me that she has family stuff," Sophie sighed. Despite not caring about Christmas, she did care about her friends being here, and so far, none of them were.

Linh and Wylie were stuck in Brooklyn. Tam and Keefe were looking for the Endals. Biana was also stuck in Brooklyn. Marella was stuck in Jersey, and Winning the competition for farthest away was Dex, stuck in Ohio. Sophie rubbed her hands up and down her face and kept repeating the same thing to herself. Christmas. Will. Happen.

"Okay!" She had called Keefe five minutes ago pretending to sob just so he and Tam would get their butts over to Manhattan.

They of course had not gotten their butts over, mostly because the Endals had gotten their butts stuck in the snow.

The doctor in her was very worried about them getting hypothermia and frostbite. The part of her that was currently not a doctor was very concerned about them getting to her damned apartment.

Fitz had started stress baking, which didn't sound like a problem until you had three trays of cookies in the oven that you didn't remember making and had already started on the crust of a pie. Sophie walked into the kitchen,

"The stress baking started," he told her,

"That's good," she put a bit of cookie dough in her mouth, " cause I think the stress eating has too,"

"How are the eyelashes?" he asked. Sophie made a face,

"We're at like a level two," she mumbled through a now full mouth of cookie dough, "How about you?" he gestured to the pie crust on the counter. Sophie nodded.

"Why are we so stressed about this?" she asked, "it makes zero sense when compared to our general characteristics and logistics,"

"You're using long words so we've stepped it up to a level three," he told her. Sophie's phone started buzzing. She grabbed it from her pocket.

She pressed the answer button,

"Dr. Sophie Foster," there were some muffled sounds on the other side and then Sophie smiled.

The truck was stuffed full. Everly and Rhys were sitting on either sides of Wylie while Linh was in the middle seat in the front.

Rhys was quietly singing away in a manger, Everly was distracted by her own feet, Wylie was making sure Everly's feet did not go in her mouth, Keefe had switched to driver, and Tam and Linh were back seat driving.

Anyone who called the Song twins complete opposites clearly hadn't spent five minutes around them. Especially not in a car.

"Seriously one of you should just drive," Keefe suggested,

"I drove us here,"

"I just refuse to drive a truck," Keefe glanced at her,

"Yeah well I refuse to drive a minivan,"

They all sat with no sound other than the Song twins correcting Keefe's driving as though it was the thing they were most passionate about in life.

"I'm going to turn the radio on if you don't shut up," That made everyone very quiet. The truck had been Linh and Tam's in high school and Tam had taken it when they'd graduated. Now it had been a lot of years and the radio did not work, it did however admit a loud shrieking sound that could be most easily compared to the sobbing of the damned.

They all stayed quiet for a while then Rhys's quiet singing resumed.

Sophie smiled as she finally heard knocking on their door. She stood up and walked over to the door. She opened it and found exactly what she was looking to find, Linh, Tam, Wylie, Keefe, Everly, and Rhys.

"Aunt Sophie!" Rhys exclaimed. Sophie smiled and picked up her nephew. She hugged him before placing him on her hip,

"Three seconds and you've already stolen our kid," Wylie teased, Sophie shrugged,

"I mean you're probably going to steal my kid in a minute,"

"On the topic of kids we have presents for your's," Linh told her, "where is Fitz, if he is my partner in reverse crime he can also be my partner in carrying stuff in from my car,"

"Kitchen," Sophie answered, Linh nodded and started to walk in the kitchen's direction, "don't be alarmed by the pie!"

It took Linh and Fitz a surprisingly long time to get all the stuff. When they came back it was with their typical greeting,

"Open up it's the police," Linh said calmly on the other side of the door. Sophie and Wylie gave each other the look that they always did when Fitz and Linh did these things before Sophie opened the door Fitz and Linh stared at her for a moment. Then Linh started talking.

"You have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to an," Marella appeared out of nowhere,

"Attorney!" she shouted. In that moment Sophie wondered if letting Fitz and Linh become police officers and Marella become a lawyer was the worst decision she had ever made.

Biana jumped trying to see over the swarms of people. She couldn't see over them o matter how hard she tried. Not that Dex was hard to spot, during their teenage years he had had growth spurt after growth spurt and now he was too tall to miss, unless you had stopped growing at thirteen and were barely over five feet tall. It wasn't the best position to be in. She considered standing on a bench but standing on a bench made her look like a child which was not her goal. Her goal was to look like someone who owned a fashion company, all though covered in snow and jumping up and down wasn't necessarily selling that image. Biana felt someone tap her shoulder and turned around to see Dex smiling at her.

"Merry Christmas," she smiled and wrapped her arms around him,

"Merry Christmas," she responded, "ready to walk to Manhattan!" she exclaimed,

"Ready to what now," he asked,

"Well, I refuse to ride the subway on Christmas,"

"Fair,"

"It's way too snowy to risk a cab,"

"Fair,"

"We don't own a car,"

"True,"

"And we have to get to Christmas,"

"I guess we're walking to Manhattan, first can we please get a coffee though ?"

"Yes,"

Music rang through the house as Sophie placed a bite of cinnamon bun in her mouth. Biana had called at six in the mourning (not that they weren't already awake) and told them that he and Dex would get there for dinner but would not be there for brunch. Sophie kept eating her cinnamon bun and hoped they weren't running out of Christmas music to play. She had only downloaded a couple albums and Keefe kept skipping songs despite her telling him to stop.

They had already opened gifts and we're all sporting their 2018 Christmas sweaters courtesy of Marella. Biana and Dex's were sitting on the couch ready to be claimed.

Sophie glanced at the door. Still nothing. She looked back to the table and then right as there was a knock at the door. Sophie and Fitz both stood up and rushed to the door where they were met by a snow-covered Biana and Dex,

Rhys smiled apon seeing them and stood up not bothering to wipe off his hands, before rushing to Biana and jumping up so that she would pick him up.

"Aunty Biana you're a snow man!" he exclaimed. His eyes landed on Dex and he gasped, "and you brought Frosty!" Biana giggled and wiped off Dex's face,

"Uncle Dex! That's better than Frosty,"

"I agree," Biana responded. They both nodded a couple times. Sophie laughed. It was no secret that Biana had been declared the favourite non-immeadiate family member by the four year old. If Biana was in the room he was stuck to her. It was also no secret that Rhys was Biana's favourite family member in general, which meant she had no problem with having a shadow at any holidays.

Sophie sometimes wondered if there were any side effects to having your aunt prefer one of your siblings or cousins over you. She also sometimes worried Rhys would be preferred to Biana's own kids because she knew that lead to some weird psychological symptoms.

Either way right now they were happy, and Christmas was complete.


	11. Livvy and Elwin

Name: Hiding away

Description: Livvy and Elwin hide from Alina while working the night shift on Christmas

Author:Carin

Notes: this is short and kind of bad but I need to go to sleep

"Please please please please please," Sophie begged, "please Livvy I will cover you three times if you please please please take my Christmas shift," Livvy sighed,

"It depends. Where is this Christmas shift?" Sophie looked at the floor,

"E.R" she mumbled,

"Sold!" yelled Livvy, "You know I love working E.R, you come to me with all this begging…" she paused and turned to Sophie, "who is this shift with?"

"Elwin," Sophie stated,

"And," asked Livvy, not buying that Sophie was so against working a shift with Elwin,

"Alina," Sophie mumbled under her breath. Livvy gave her the look she gave her whenever she did something reckless.

"Please don't give me the disappointed doctor look," Sophie slumped over the table, "I get that look too much as it is,"

"Yeah you do." Livvy looked at Sophie,

"Please tell me you'll still do it," Livvy sighed

"Fine,"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you,"

Livvy sighed as she sat in the ER break room. Tonight had been so boring. They had just had a bunch of bad cuts and Alina kept taking stitches duty so she was left with nothing to do. Livvy took a sip of her coffee and put her head on the table for a minute before remembering she was in a hospital and it was possible that remains of the black plague festered on that table. With that thought she took her coffee off the table and held it on her thigh. The door opened and she glanced up. Luckily it was Elwin and not Alina,

"Thank god I found you, do you want to hide from Alina with me?" he asked,

"Please!" she exclaimed, she was desperate. She grabbed Elwin's hand and replaced he coffee on the table before they both ran to the hallway. Alina was standing at a room at the end. They both ran to the other end of the hallway and giggled for a minute. They heard footsteps behind them and quickly scattered away trying to get as far away from the hallway until they found themselves at a dead end with the footsteps right behind them.

Livvy shrieked and pulled them in to a closet.

Elwin stifled a laugh as they saw Alina's shoes under the door.

"Is this the most immature thing we've done well working?" he asked her. Livvy shook her head,

"No there was that time, when Sophie and Fitz got hurt and we were up till like three AM,"

"Right we ended up throwing fruit peels at each other," Livvy laughed,

"That was fun,"

"It was fun, we should really hang out outside of work more," he suggested,

"We do make a mischievous pair," she agreed, "maybe we could discuss over coffee?"

He smiled,

"Love the concept, feel like in practice you're going to be drinking a cup of sugar,"

"Oh probably, but it would still be fun,"

"You are a sugar addict," he told her,

"I know," her pager buzzed,

"That mean you have to leave?" he asked, Livvy nodded sadly,

"But I will be back," she insisted, she quickly kissed the top of his head, " as soon as I perform stitches,"


	12. Little Drummer Moonlark

Name: Little Drummer Moonlark

Description: Alvar's having a real hard time dealing with all these terrible actors.

Pairing: None

Author: Allison

One week until Opening Night

"No, No you're doing it all wrong!" shouted Alvar. He threw the script on the floor and stormed over to where the sheep were. Or rather where they weren't supposed to be. Valin and Jensi were rolling on the floor of the theater, getting their lamb costumes dirty.

They had seven days until the opening night of the play and Alvar was stressing the hell out. All of his actors were idiots. They were tiny, devilish, idiots. Fitz refused to say the lines he was supposed to. Wylie would not hold Fitz's hand when they were going down the aisle and Sophie would not stop banging that drum. At least Biana and Linh were doing fine. They were Alvar's favourite.

"Like this?" asked Wylie. "Oh dear, they don't have any rooms in the inn."

"YES!" Alvar shouted, "That was perfect, now do it again from the top."

"The tippy top?" asked Dex.

"Yes the tippy top," said Alvar, exasperated. "Places please."

They all took their rehearsed places on the stage. Alvar opened his mouth to yell action but was interrupted by a loud banging.

 _Rum pa pum-pum_

"No Sophie," he called.

"My name's not Sophie," Sophie protested. "I'm Moonlark."

"Save that for your time." Choosing to ignore the last comment. Five-year-olds, so dramatic. She nodded and put her sticks on the ground in front of her.

"And the angel Gabriel came to Mary in a dream." Marella walked on stage wearing angel wings on her back.

"Do you want to have a baby?" she asked "Mary".

"No Marella," said Alvar. "It's "you have been chosen by the lord to bear his son.""

"But that's a lot of words," argued Marella. She had been recently taught how to do the whole sarcasm thing and Alvar was not having any of it.

When he had been chosen to direct the kindergarten's nativity pageant he had been thrilled. Then he had met the class. Linh and Biana were inseparable and only wanted to hug the sheep costumes- which was kinda good since they were the shepherds. Dex, Keefe, and Tam were attracted to shiny things so they were the three wise men. Sophie had run right at the drum in the corner and refused to be anyone other than the little drummer boy. He had made the mistake of making Marella the angel Gabriel, she only spoke sarcastically, which may have been correct historically, but not to the script. Jensi and Valin had come in late so they were the sheep. Which left his little brother and Wylie for Mary and Joseph. Fitz wanted to be Mary solely for the reason of the blue costume.

He spoke in a really high pitched voice, higher than his already high five-year old's voice. Alvar had tried to get him to stop but every time Fitz would just go higher, and higher and higher. Until one day Alvar had been worried that the windows would shatter. They didn't miraculously, but he stopped trying then.

"ALVAR, KEEFE KEEPS TRYING TO TOUCH MY BANGS," yelled Tam. He covered his brow with his hand and was swatting Keefe away with the other.

"Keefe, what did I tell you yesterday?"

"That Tam's bangs were soft and deserved being petted."

"No, Keefe." Alvar slapped his forehead with his palm. He was going to have such a bruise next week.

Sophie had reclaimed control of her drumsticks and was whacking her drum with renewed vigor. The once melodic _Rum Pa Pum Pum_ was now _dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadad._ Fitz was covering his ears and folded in on himself and the baby doll. Dex was screaming with Sophie. Now the noise had doubled and was attracting the other students in the halls. A red-haired student covered in paint poked her head in the door, raised her eyebrows at Alvar and then left. He checked his watch and realized that their rehearsal was almost over.

"Guys we should start cleaning up now," Alvar suggested whilst clapping his hands together. All the students turned on him, the room was dead silent. Then almost like they were possessed, they started simultaneously singing.

 _CLEAN UP, CLEAN UP, EVERYBODY-_ Alvar tuned them out when their teacher. Mr. Leto came in. Alvar took that as his cue to leave, he would see all the brats tomorrow.

Opening Night

The theater was packed with parents. It was a full house. Alvar looked down at the robes he had been given. Apparently, this is what the Narrator wore. He squinted out into the audience and he could see the red-haired girl from rehearsal sitting the back. He waved, everyone waved back. Ah, the joys of parents with small children.

Fitz and Wylie were bickering about who got to carry the baby on stage, Fitz was whisper yelling something like.

"Well, I'm the one who carried this child, our child Wylington for nine months!"

"That's not even my name!" protested Wylie. Alvar made a mental note to ask Fitz where he got that information, given the fact that he was five.

That could be dealt with later. Now he had a play to narrate.

Thirty minutes later when everyone was onstage and smiling, no one had gotten into fights and their drumbeat was steady. Alvar raised his arms and the children started to sing their final piece. The swan song, he hoped. They were so off key that they should retire immediately. But the audience didn't mind, when they got to the final _Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the Newborn King,_ they jumped to their feet. Phones flashed and roses came up onto the stage. This is why he wanted to become a director, he just never imagined that it would be a nativity pageant with five-year-olds.

When they were all taking off their costumes and gathering around for one final photo, Sophie screamed.

"I AM THE LITTLE DRUMMER MOONLARK!" Then fell asleep onto a heap of clothes containing Fitz.


End file.
